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Marilyn
Peter Robinson (born Kingston, Jamaica, 3 November 1962[1]), better known as Marilyn, is a British pop singer and songwriter. He is most well known for his 1983 hit "Calling Your Name" and his highly androgynous appearance. Contents http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marilyn_(singer)# hide *1 Early years *2 Career *3 Exhibitions *4 Books *5 Portrayals *6 Personal life *7 Discography **7.1 Albums *8 Singles *9 References *10 External links Early years Marilyn was born in Jamaica, but after his parents split up, he and his mother moved back to England when he was four years old, settling in Hertfordshire.[2]After being constantly bullied, he left school at 15, and by 1979 he had left home and was living in a squat in London.[2] He became a regular nightclub-goer but wanted to look different so he adopted a Marilyn Monroe image wearing vintage dresses with bleached blond hair (he had originally earned the nickname "Marilyn" from the bullies at school but decided to use it to his advantage).[2] He became part of the British New Romanticmovement which emerged in the late 1970s club scene and was popularised in the early 1980s. Marilyn was a regular at 'The Blitz' nightclub (regulars being labelled as Blitz Kids), a highly stylised club in London run by Steve Strange of the pop group Visage, and a place which spawned many early 1980s pop stars such as Spandau Ballet. During this time, Marilyn met Boy George (prior to his forming Culture Club), and the pair would later share a squat together. Career In 1979, Marilyn appeared in the documentary Steppin' Out directed by Lyndall Hobbs, which explored the fashionable nightclubs and the trendy pop culture scenes that were famous in London in the late 70s. It was shown as the support film to Alien in British cinemas.[2] Also in 1979, he appeared in the first segment of director Derek Jarman’s 12-minute short film Broken English. While Boy George went on to form Culture Club in 1981 and secured a recording deal with Virgin Records, Marilyn was still scouting for a recording contract and had relocated to Los Angeles for some time. There, he worked as a personal assistant to daytime soap star Terry Lester,[3] and teamed up with songwriter and pop entrepreneurPaul Caplin who became his manager.[4] By this point, Boy George and Culture Club had made a commercial impact with their debut album, and record companies were looking for artists with a similar cross-dressing image. In 1983, following a high profile appearance in the video for the Eurythmics' hit single, "Who's That Girl?",[5] Marilyn signed his own recording contract with Phonogram Records. Marilyn's first chart success came in late 1983 with his debut single "Calling Your Name"[6] which reached the Top 5 in the UK and Australia, and number 1 in Japan.[citation needed] He had further UK Top 40 hits in 1984 with "Cry and Be Free" and "You Don't Love Me" (the latter of which he performed at the Children’s Royal Variety Performance held at Her Majesty's Theatre, London, in the presence of HRH The Princess Anne). In March 1984, Marilyn flew to Australia for a 10-day promotional tour and was besieged by fans who were waiting to greet him at Melbourne Airport. Film footage of his arrival was broadcast on that evening's television news.[7][8] While in Australia, he was attacked and kicked in the face by a member of the public at the Exchange Hotel, a gay bar venue in Sydney, sustaining a bruised eye from the incident.[9] In late 1984, Marilyn took part in the Band Aid charity single "Do They Know It's Christmas" along with various other pop stars of the era.[10] Following this, his record company, Phonogram, dispatched him to Detroit, Michigan, to work with producer Don Was of the band Was (Not Was). In America he cut his trademark long blonde hair short and ceased wearing make-up, abandoning the image that had brought him his initial success. In June 1985, Marilyn released his debut album, Despite Straight Lines. Despite including his three earlier UK Top 40 hit singles, the album failed to chart. Further singles from the album, "Baby U Left Me" and "Pray For That Sunshine" were also unsuccessful. By 1986, Marilyn had developed a serious drug addiction problem, and in July 1986, he and Boy George were arrested and charged with possession of heroin. On 20 August 1986, at Marylebone Magistrates Court in London, a magistrate dismissed the possession charge against Marilyn because the prosecution offered no evidence.[11] However, the resultant media fallout due to his drug addiction and his highly publicised disputes with Boy George damaged his public image. Coupled with the changing tastes of the public who by now had eschewed the New Romantic artists as an early 80s fad, Marilyn's music career never recovered. Marilyn made his first live appearance on in December 1986 at the Mud Club in London, where he performed a rendition of "Spirit in the Sky" which was planned to be his new single but was never released.[12] By 1989, Marilyn had signed with the Interbeat label, though again no new recordings surfaced. He then dropped out of the public eye for the next decade. Marilyn resurfaced in the late 1990s, when he appeared on the Channel 4 programme Top Ten New Romantics (though he himself was not listed in the chart). In 2000, he attempted to relaunch his career and recorded a new single, a cover version of the Dennis Brown song "How Could I Live?" for Desilu Records based in Jamaica.[13] Marilyn flew out to Jamaica to record the track and a few months later producer Nick Cabrera flew out there to supervise the final work on the track and its subsequent remixes. German producer Kinky Roland also made a remix of the track.[14] Following disagreements with the label, Marilyn refused to let the single be released, though some 12" promotional copies do exist.[14] On 2 September 2001, Marilyn performed a live appearance at the Sound on Sunday club night in Leicester Square, London. It was his first live performance in over 14 years.[15] To promote the gig he gave a series of magazine interviews.[16][17][18] In 2003, Marilyn appeared (as himself) on the Channel 4 television show The Salon, a reality show based at a hairdressing salon where members of the public and several celebrities went for haircuts and beauty treatments. He also appeared in the TV documentary 25 Years of Smash Hits that traced the influence of UK pop music. In 2006, Marilyn appeared on the Channel 4 TV documentary Whatever Happened to the Gender Benders?, which reflected on the advent of the New Romantic movement of the early 1980s and the prominent roles that he, Boy George and Steve Strange played within it. In stark contrast to the relative glamour of the New Romantic era, interviews with all three stars in the present day highlighted the sheer devastation that fame, fortune and drug addiction had taken on each of them during the past 25 years, with Strange and Marilyn in particular being openly candid about the mental health problems they now try to cope with every day. On 16 May 2013, Marilyn appeared on Birmingham's Switch Radio where he gave a 30-minute interview.[19] On 1 June 2013, he appeared on Kev Gurney's Club Tropicana radio show on Bolton 96.5 radio where he gave a 20-minute interview in which he speaks candidly about his life. During the interview he revealed that he has been back in the recording studio and is currently working on four new tracks with a new production team, and suggested the possibility of live dates in the future.[20] Exhibitions Exhibitions that have included material relating to Marilyn: Nicola Tyson’s 2013 Bowie Nights at Billy's Club, London, 1978 Exhibition at Sadie Coles HQ Gallery, London W1 - 25 January – 23 February 2013 [21][22][23] Marilyn modelled for several fashion designers including Jean Paul Gaultier and Vivienne Westwood [24] Several photographs of Marilyn are housed in London's National Portrait Gallery.[25] Books As of 2008, Marilyn was reported to be working on his autobiography, though it has yet to be published. Books that have included references to Marilyn include: We Can Be Heroes: Punks, Poseurs, Peacocks and People of a Particular Persuasion by Graham Smith, published by Unbound - 20 November 2012.[26][27][28] Take It Like A Man: The Autobiography of Boy George. (1995) Marilyn features prominently in Boy George's autobiography, which reflects on their long friendship and years together from living in a London squat and working at the Blitz Club. In the book, George claims that while they were living in a squat together, they were chased out by an neighbour (male) who was attracted to Marilyn, but who then broke the door down with an axe when he discovered Marilyn was a man. He also claims Marilyn once tried to seduce David Bowie at a London nightclub but was rebuffed.[29] Portrayals Marilyn has been portrayed in several productions, including Boy George's stage musical Taboo which reflected on the New Romantic scene of the early 80s.[30] He was also portrayed by the actor Freddie Fox in the 2010 BBC television film Worried About The Boy, about the rise of Boy George in the early 80s.[31] Personal life Marilyn has been openly candid about the effect drug abuse has had on his life. In 1986, both he and Boy George were arrested in London on charges of drug possession. On 20 August 1986, at Marylebone Magistrates Court in London, a magistrate dismissed a heroin charge against Marilyn because the prosecution offered no evidence.[11] In his 1995 autobiography Take It Like A Man, Boy George wrote that in the 1980s Marilyn had an affair with Gavin Rossdale (who later found fame with the band Bush). For many years, both Marilyn and Rossdale denied the story.[32][33] Then in 2009, Marilyn confirmed they had been "together for five years" in the 1980s.[33] In 2010, Rossdale responded by saying the relationship had been an experimentation and "part of growing up".[34][35][36] Rossdale has been married to singer Gwen Stefani since 2002, and in 2009 Marilyn commented "Gavin and Gwen are perfect for each other, but he was the love of my life."[33] Discography Albums Singles Category:1962 births